Resources for Presenting Research and Projects

Hour-Long Presentations

This form of conference presentation is the most traditional. The presenter prepares a talk with visual aids that details their research. There are usually a few minutes reserved at the end of the presentation for questions from the audience. Recently, many conferences now offer virtual presentation options. The expectations for the presentation are the same, but are conducted via a web-conferencing application (i.e. Zoom, Webex, etc.)

Below are some tips for designing and giving a successful conference presentation. 

An effective presentation is a combination of presentation software and other forms of communication, writing and reporting to persuade, convince, inform and enlighten.

Some tips to keep in mind when designing:

• Keep it simple, elegant and professional. Limit the use of animation, transitions, and sound.
• Practice no more than 4 by 4 rule when possible, 4 bullets with 4 words.
• Edit ruthlessly. Have others proofread if possible.
• Use real images whenever possible, not clipart.
• Font size needs to be large enough to read, 18-24 pt is standard. Specialty fonts are hard to read.
• Colors - change for emphasis as needed, but be consistent with design
• Structure the presentation with an opening slide, outline of discussion, the subject material and a conclusion or summary.

One way to add meaning to your presentation is to use images.

1. You can find images on the web but you should be concerned with copyright law.
2. Many images on the web are protected under copyright and should not be used in your  presentation. You can legally use photos in four ways:
   • Find photos that are licensed as Creative Commons (flickr),
   • Ask permission from the photographer 
   • Buy your photos from a stock photo site (e.g. iStock ) 
   • Take your own photos
3. Make sure that you don’t increase the photo from the original size. If you copy and paste the image and it’s too small, enlarging it will only pixilate your photo and it will not look appropriate on your presentation.

Some tips when presenting:

• Make eye contact early and often.
• Face the audience and connect with them.
• Do not read your slides; there should be a balance between you and the slide content, otherwise, you are not needed!
• Begin with a story to connect your audience, introduce yourself and the topic and make the subject matter relevant to them.
• Demonstrate your own level of passion, interest in your venture through your physical engagement and tone of voice.
• Know your audience and respect them.
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!
• If you are in a large group and are taking questions, rephrase the question just asked because most others in the audience will likely not have heard the question.

Begin with the end in mind. Give your audience a reason to listen. Paint a picture of how your presentation will improve their lives: improving business skills, helping them make or save money, showing them a more effective way of performing a task, etc.

Strike a visual-verbal balance. Many PowerPoint presentations contain charts and graphs to deliver data. While charts are important, you'll rarely hear your audience complain that your presentation had too few of them. If you show a slide that's heavy on data, follow it up with a visual slide that contains little, if any text. If one slide asks the audience to focus on a chart, try following it up with a slide that shows nothing more than an image. This will force the audience to shift its focus to you, the speaker. It will also give everyone's eyes a break.

Organize with 10-minute intervals in mind. Research has shown that our minds tend to wander after approximately 10 minutes. That means during your next presentation, members of your audience are going to tune out at regular intervals to daydream about what they're going to have for dinner or watch on television when they get home. So plan activities designed to draw them back that occur every 10 minutes or so. For example, introduce a second speaker who takes over a small portion of the presentation; insert video clips; ask a question of your audience and get a discussion started; engage them in an activity where they are required to think and write.

Posters are widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program. 

Research posters summarize information or research concisely and attractively to share information and generate discussion. 

The poster is a combination of a brief text mixed with tables, graphs, and images. At a conference, the researcher stands by the poster display while other participants can come and view the presentation and interact with the author.

"What is a research poster?" (2018, February 16). How to create a research poster: Poster basics. Retrieved from https://guides.nyu.edu/c.php?g=276826&p=1846154